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QUESTION:Here's a question for you: what is a "floor furnace"? I just saw a house
which had a furnace located beneath a grille in the floor. There are no
ducts to spread the heat throughout the house--it all emanates from this one
spot in the floor.
Who has lived with one of these beasts? Does it heat the whole house (this
house is only 830 sq. feet)? Where do the combustion gases go? Would I be
a stupid fool to buy a house with such a "system"?
ANSWER: We have one. Our house is ~1100 sq. feet, and built circa 1913 (apparently
it originally depended on the fireplace and a couple of woodstoves for heat).
A later owner added a floor furnace in the "hallway" (a central area which
connects to all the rooms but the kitchen). I've never found a date on
the furnace, but I'd guess it's 1950's or earlier, though the control
valve is pretty new.
The flame burns inside an enclosed compartment; the combustion products exit
through a flue (they chopped a hole in the fireplace floor to install our
flue, making the fireplace useles...). As you've surmised, the heat from
the flames simply rises through the grate and is hopefully spread around
by air currents.
How well does it work? Well, it can pump out as much raw heat as any
other furnace, but as you might guess it doesn't distribute as well as
forced air. When we bought the house two rooms had ceiling fans; we've
installed two more (one directly over the furnace) which helps. The house
is very poorly insulated, which makes it hard to tell how the furnace would
do in more construction.
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